Doug Ashford, born in 1958, has his roots in activist art and was part of the Group Material artist collective in 1982-1996, focusing on democratic processes and social groups, for instance by creating graphs over activist groups and artist coteries. Today, he devotes himself entirely to painting. His exquisite and veritably classical paintings “Essays on the Same Day in 1966” in glowing colours include details from a photo taken at a protest march in 1966. His works are decorative, even though they consist of elements from his past as an activist. And the abstract patterns recur in the design of the graphs. Ashford was one of the artists featured at Documenta 13 in Kassel in 2012.